For centuries, artists have struggled with the idea of symmetry. It's one of the tenets of the Apollonian approach to art-making, order vs. chaos. The only drawback is that symmetry and order can be predictable, and a little chaos can shake things up. Choreographer Margaret Jenkins chose to use these ideas as metaphors for her new piece, Other Suns, premiering this week at the Project Artaud Theater.
"We began our process of making Other Suns by discussing issues of symmetry in our lives as a metaphor for exacting control," says Jenkins of her initial conversations with the artists collaborating on the project. "We discussed the perceived melting of the planet, and the massive importance of water in a variety of forms. We talked about the ways in which we as a country and a people try to find a balance between that which holds us together and the importance of staying off-balance, ready for the surprises the keep us vulnerable."
In Other Suns, Jenkins examines symmetry and asymmetry, the balances and imbalances in our environment, including global warming. These ideas have driven the research among the collaborators, including Michael Palmer (artistic associate and poet), Alexander V. Nichols (visual design), and Laura Hazlett (costume design), as well as the dancers in her company. Collaboration is central to the creation of Jenkins' work, and she is working closely with composers Bun-Ching Lam and Paul Dresher. Jenkins is skilled at distilling an idea into the contemporary language of dance, movement, gesture and visual design.
Jenkins' dancers generated the movement around these central issues, and helped integrate it into the structure of the dance. Creating movement which might be considered symmetrical, then playing with ways to dismantle those structures was the focus. Intimacy, chaos and stasis, ferocity, all became a part of the fabric of the work. "The dancers are the core, the source from which the work is realized," says Jenkins. "We are in a constant and ongoing exchange about what works and what does not, and why."
If all goes according to plan, Jenkins will create the second part of this dance on the Guangdong Modern Dance Company in China. She is eager to see how these dancers will inform the ideas that launched Other Suns, and how, in collaboration, her company will be re-informed about gesture and meaning through working in another culture. This is a familiar process for Jenkins; she recently used it in an extended project in India, when she created A Slipping Glance. In that piece, classical Indian dancers collaborated with Jenkins and performed in the piece with her company.
Visual drama
Jenkins has created dances for 34 years, and from the beginning, her goal has been the same: to make dances that provoke and create a visual drama that poses questions for her and the audience, the final collaborator. "I start at a certain place, and in the process of collaborating, often discover that I have landed in previously unimagined territory."
For Other Suns, visual designer Nichols has created a set of many hanging lights, and a number of twisted metal tubes through which water slowly drips into a well beneath the stage. "As always, Alex finds a way to create a landscape that takes one's imagination to a surprising and a deeply eloquent place." Hazlett as costume designer finds the materials of deep grays and purples suggest a casual yet fluent style.
As a final thought, Jenkins says, "From the first years to the present, I have become more aware of the enigmas at the heart of interesting work. I have come to trust that the collision and interchange among language, movement, music and visual design create their own meanings. That what was first intended shifts and metamorphoses over time."
Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Dec. 6-9 at Project Artaud Theater, 450 Florida St., SF. Tickets ($25): (415) 392-4400. www.mjdc.org.